Risk determination enabled crypto currency transaction system

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods for providing risk determination in a crypto currency transaction include receiving, through a network via a broadcast by a first payer device, a first crypto currency transaction that includes a first payee public address. A first request for a determination of risk associated with the first crypto currency transaction is then identified in the first crypto currency transaction, with the first request including risk criteria. A first payee involved in the first crypto currency transaction is then identified using the first payee public address, and first payee risk information is accessed via at least one external risk information database based on the identification of the first payee. If it is determined that the first payee risk information satisfies the at least one risk criteria in the first request, the first crypto currency transaction is provided for addition to a block in a crypto currency public ledger.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.15/858,773, filed on Dec. 29, 2017, issuing as U.S. Pat. No. 10,853,811,the disclosure of which is herein incorporated by reference in itsentirety.

BACKGROUND

The present disclosure generally relates to online and/or mobilepayments, and more particularly to performing a determination of risk aspart of a crypto currency transaction.

More and more consumers are purchasing items and services overelectronic networks such as, for example, the Internet. Consumersroutinely purchase products and services from merchants and individualsalike. The transactions may take place directly between a conventionalor on-line merchant or retailer and the consumer, and payment istypically made by entering credit card or other financial information.Transactions may also take place with the aid of an on-line or mobilepayment service provider such as, for example, PayPal, Inc. of San Jose,Calif. Such payment service providers can make transactions easier andsafer for the parties involved. Purchasing with the assistance of apayment service provider from the convenience of virtually anywhereusing a mobile device is one main reason why on-line and mobilepurchases are growing very quickly.

Conventional payment service providers typically provide for payment bya payer to a payee through the use of payer accounts of the payer (e.g.,credit accounts, banking account, and/or a variety of other payeraccounts that may be provided by an account provider). For example, thepayment service provider may provide a payment service account to thepayer, and the payer may link one or more payer accounts to the paymentservice account (or the payment service account may include a payeraccount provided by the payment service provider). In a transactionbetween the payer and the payee, the payment service provider may thentransfer funds from one of the payer accounts to a payee account of thepayee (which may also be provided by the account providers or paymentservice provider). The use of such payer accounts, payee accounts, andpayment service accounts is controlled by one or more account providersthat operate to ensure that funds in the payer accounts or payeeaccounts are not misappropriated, and to mediate disputes associatedwith the transfer of funds between payer accounts and payee accounts.

An alternative to payer accounts and payee accounts provided by anaccount provider is the use of distributed crypto currencies such as,for example, Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Monero, and/or a variety ofother distributed crypto currencies known in the art. Distributed cryptocurrencies are not controlled by any central authority, but rather by adistributed network of computing devices that operate to confirmtransfers of the crypto currency between payers and payees. Suchdecentralized distributed crypto currencies provide for the transfer ofthe crypto currency between users in the system, but offer no mechanismfor identifying or determining risks associated with participating in acrypto currency transaction with another party. As such, a party to acrypto currency transaction is unable to ensure that they only transactwith other parties that satisfy risk criteria, and instead are forced totransact “blindly” with parties that may be unknown or have unknownhistories.

Thus, Applicant recognizes that there is a need for a risk determinationenabled crypto currency transaction system.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 is a flow chart illustrating an embodiment of a method forproviding a risk determination enabled crypto currency transaction;

FIG. 2 is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of an electroniccoin;

FIG. 3 is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of a cryptocurrency public ledger;

FIG. 4 is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of a riskdetermination enabled crypto currency transaction system;

FIG. 5 is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of a memory poolsubsystem that may be used in the risk determination enabled cryptocurrency transaction system of FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of a networkedsystem;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view illustrating an embodiment of a payerdevice;

FIG. 8 is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of a computersystem; and

FIG. 9 is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of a systemprovider device.

Embodiments of the present disclosure and their advantages are bestunderstood by referring to the detailed description that follows. Itshould be appreciated that like reference numerals are used to identifylike elements illustrated in one or more of the figures, whereinshowings therein are for purposes of illustrating embodiments of thepresent disclosure and not for purposes of limiting the same.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments of the present disclosure describe systems and methods forenabling risk determinations in a crypto currency transaction. A payercreating the crypto currency transaction may choose to enable riskdeterminations by using a wallet application to create a crypto currencytransaction that includes a request for a risk determination thatdesignates risk criteria. As discussed below, a payer may designate therisk criteria in the crypto currency transaction in order to have a riskdetermination made about a payee involved in the crypto currencytransaction, and/or may designate the risk criteria as required by thepayee in order to have a risk determination made about the payer beforethe crypto currency transaction will be allowed to proceed. The payermay then broadcast the crypto currency transaction via a network, andcomputing device(s) that are part of a distributed network that maintaina crypto currency public ledger may receive that crypto currencytransaction. In response to verifying the crypto currency transaction isvalid and identifying that the crypto currency transaction includes therequest to make the risk determination, the computing device(s) may addit to a risk determination memory pool. A computing device may thenretrieve the transaction from the risk determination memory pool, andmay identify the payee using a payee public address included in thetransaction. The computing device may then access an external riskinformation database in order to identify risk information about thepayee, and make a determination of whether that risk informationsatisfies the risk criteria in the request. If the risk informationsatisfies the risk criteria, the computing device then provides thecrypto currency transaction for addition to a transaction memory pool,where computing devices that are part of the distributed network mayattempt to add it to a block in the crypto currency public ledger. Ifthe computing device determines that the risk information does notsatisfy the risk criteria in the request, the crypto currencytransaction is not provided for addition to the transaction memory poolsuch that computing devices that are part of the distributed network areprevented from adding it to a block in the crypto currency publicledger.

Referring now to FIGS. 1, 2, and 3, a method 100 for providing a riskdetermination in a crypto currency transaction is illustrated. In someembodiments of the method 100 described below, one or more systemprovider devices may operate to perform at least a portion the method100. For example, a distributed group of one or more computing devicesmay operate to generate (a.k.a. “mine”) a crypto currency while creatingblocks in a blockchain (also referred to below as a crypto currencypublic ledger), and maintain that blockchain while performing the method100 as detailed below. In another embodiment, one or more systemprovider devices may perform the method 100 to provide crypto currencytransaction risk determinations separate from the generation of thecrypto currency to create blocks in the blockchain, and the maintenanceof that blockchain. For example, a payment service provider such as, forexample, PayPal, Inc. of San Jose, Calif., may utilize payment serviceprovider device(s) to perform at least some of the method 100 (e.g., thecrypto currency transaction risk determinations) discussed below, and insome embodiments may operate in cooperation with one or more othersystem providers (via their system provider devices), payers (via theirpayer devices) and/or payees (via their payee devices) to perform atleast the crypto currency transaction risk determination portions of themethod 100 discussed below. However, these embodiments are meant to bemerely exemplary, and one of skill in the art in possession of thepresent disclosure will recognize that a wide variety of systemproviders may operate, alone or together, to provide the systems andmethods discussed herein without departing from the scope of the presentdisclosure.

Referring now to FIG. 2, an embodiment of an electronic coin 200 isillustrated and described briefly for reference to the method 100discussed below. The crypto currency system associated with the presentdisclosure defines an electronic coin as a chain of digital signaturesprovided by previous owners of the electronic coin to subsequent ownersof the electronic coin. In the illustrated embodiment, the electroniccoin 200 is owned by an owner 202, and FIG. 2 illustrates how theelectronic coin 200 is defined by the digital signatures of the previousowners 204, 206, and 208. Specifically, in transaction A, a hash of thepublic key of owner 206 (i.e., the owner receiving, as a result oftransaction A, an electronic coin 2001 defined by digital signaturesprovided up to transaction A) and the previous transaction (notillustrated, but occurring prior to transaction A) was signed by owner208 (i.e., the owner providing, as a result of transaction A, theelectronic coin 2001 defined by digital signatures provided up totransaction A) and added to an initial electronic coin (which wasdefined by digital signatures provided up to the transaction prior totransaction A) such that the electronic coin 2001 was transferred toowner 206. Similarly, in transaction B, a hash of the public key ofowner 204 (i.e., the owner receiving, as a result of transaction B, anelectronic coin 2002 defined by digital signatures provided up totransaction B) and transaction A was signed by owner 206 and added tothe electronic coin 2001 such that the electronic coin 2002 wastransferred to owner 204. Similarly, in transaction C, a hash of thepublic key of owner 202 (i.e., the owner receiving, as a result oftransaction C, the electronic coin 200 defined by digital signaturesprovided up to transaction C) and the transaction B was signed by owner204 and added to the electronic coin 2002 such that the electronic coin200 was transferred to owner 202. As is understood in the art, any payeereceiving an electronic coin (e.g., owner 206 in transaction A, owner204 in transaction B, and owner 202 in transaction C) can verify thesignatures to verify the chain of ownership of the electronic coin. Inthe discussion below, it should be understood that the term “electroniccoins” is used to encompass any amount of electronic coins, fromfractions of a coin (e.g., 0.00564500 electronic coins) to manymultiples of coins (e.g., 56,000.00000000 electronic coins).

Referring now to FIG. 3, an embodiment of a crypto currency publicledger 300 is illustrated and described briefly for reference to themethod 100 discussed below. The crypto currency public ledger 300operates to verify that payers transferring an electronic coin (e.g.,referring back to FIG. 2, owner 206 in transaction A, owner 204 intransaction B, and owner 202 in transaction C) did not “double-spend”(e.g., sign any previous transactions involving) that electronic coin.To produce the crypto currency public ledger 300, a distributed networkof computing devices operate to agree on a single history of cryptocurrency transactions in the order in which they were received such thatit may be determined that a crypto currency transaction between a payerand a payee using an electronic coin is the first crypto currencytransaction associated with that electronic coin. Each device in thedistributed network operates to collect new crypto currency transactionsinto a block, and then to increment a proof-of work system that includesdetermining a value that when hashed with the block provides a requirednumber of zero bits. For example, for a block 302 that includes aplurality of transactions 302 a, 302 b, and up to 302c, a device in thedistributed network may increment a nonce in the block 302 until a valueis found that gives a hash of the block 302 the required number of zerobits. The device may then “chain” the block 302 to the previous block304 (which may have been “chained” to a previous block, not illustrated,in the same manner). When devices in the distributed network find theproof-of-work for a block, that block (e.g., block 302) is broadcast tothe distributed network, and other devices in the distributed networkwill accept that block if all the crypto currency transactions in it arevalid and not already spent (which may be determined by creating thenext block using the hash of the accepted block 302). The distributednetwork will always consider the longest chain blocks to be the correctone, and will operate to continue to extend it. If a computing devicereceives two different versions of a block, it will work on the firstblock received, but save the second block received in case the branch ofthe chain that includes the second block becomes longer (at which pointthat device with switch to working on the branch of the chain thatincludes the second block).

Referring now to FIG. 4, an embodiment of a risk determination enabledcrypto currency system 400 is illustrated. In the illustratedembodiment, one or more risk information provider devices 402 arecoupled to one or more risk information databases 404 and to a network406 such as, for example, the Internet. In some embodiments, at leastone of the risk information provider devices 402 may be operated by apayment service provider such as, for example, PAYPAL® Inc. of San Jose,Calif., United States. In such embodiments, the risk informationdatabase(s) 404 may include risk information about payers and payeescollected by the payment service provider during the course of providingpayment services. However, the risk information provider device(s) 402may be operated by a variety of risk information providers thatgenerate, collect, and/or otherwise compile risk information (e.g.,credit agencies, insurance agencies, etc.), and the risk informationdatabase(s) 404 may store a variety of types of risk data about payersand payees, while remaining within the scope of the present disclosure.

In specific embodiments, the risk information stored in the riskinformation database(s) 404 may includecrypto-currency-blockchain-specific risk information such as, forexample, whether a crypto currency public address has ever been used toreceive and/or receive electronic coins, how long the crypto currencypublic address has held electronic coins and/or its history of holdingelectronic coins, whether the payment service provider has certified thecrypto currency public address as legitimate, etc. Furthermore, the riskinformation stored in the risk information database(s) 404 may includenon-crypto-currency-blockchain-specific risk information such as whethera party to the crypto currency transaction can be identified by a validInternet Protocol (IP) address, whether a party to the transaction isassociated with an approved country or location, whether a party to thetransaction has performed crypto currency transactions using the systembefore, whether the party to the crypto currency transactions has hadprevious crypto currency transactions disputed or reported, etc. Whilesome examples have been provided, one of skill in the art in possessionof the present disclosure will recognize that any risk information aboutpayers and payees may be stored in the risk information database(s) 404while remaining within the scope of the present disclosure.

In the illustrated embodiment, one or more payer devices 408 are coupledto the network 206, and any of those payer device(s) 408 may be operatedby payer(s) involved in the crypto currency transactions discussedbelow. Similarly, one or more payee devices 410 are coupled to thenetwork 206, and any of those payee device(s) 410 may be operated bypayee(s) involved in the crypto currency transactions discussed below.Furthermore, one or more system provider device(s) 412 are coupled tothe network 206, and those system provider device(s) 412 may be part ofthe distributed network of computing devices that operate to maintainthe crypto currency public ledger 300 discussed above. Further still,while illustrated in FIG. 4 and discussed in some embodiments below asoperating separately to perform separate functions, in some embodiments,the functionality of a the risk information provider device(s) 402 andthe system provider device(s) 412 may be combined such that computingdevices in the distributed network of computing devices that operate tomaintain the crypto currency public ledger 300 also operate to performthe risk determinations by accessing the risk information database(s) asdiscussed below. Thus, while a specific embodiment has been illustrated,one of skill in the art in possession of the present disclosure willappreciate that risk determination enabled crypto currency system 400illustrated in FIG. 4 may include a variety of modification whileremaining within the scope of the present disclosure.

Referring now to FIG. 5, an embodiment of memory pool subsystem 500 isillustrated. As would be understood by one of skill in the art inpossession of the present disclosure, when a crypto currency transactionis broadcast through the network to a distributed network of computingdevices that maintain the crypto currency public ledger, thatunconfirmed crypto currency transaction is added to a memory pool oneach of those computing devices, and then crypto currency transactionsare retrieved by the computing devices from their memory pool, verified(i.e., the owner's signature utilizing the owner's private key isconfirmed as valid for spending the crypto currency from the identifiedpublic address), and grouped in an attempt to add them as part of ablock in the crypto currency public ledger (as discussed above.)

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the memory pool subsystem500 may be implemented in which each system provider device 502 (whichare substantially similar to the system provider device(s) 412 discussedabove) includes a risk memory pool 504 and a transaction memory pool506. As discussed in further detail below, crypto currency transactionsthat include a request for a risk determination may be initially beadded to the risk memory pool, then retrieved from the risk memory pool504 for risk determination and, if those crypto currency transactionssatisfy risk criteria, added to the transaction memory pool 506.However, if those crypto currency transactions do not satisfy riskcriteria, they may be dropped such that they are not added thetransaction memory pool 506. The system provider device(s) 502 may thenprocess crypto currency transactions in the transaction memory pool 506in substantially the same manner as discussed above. However, in otherembodiments, conventional crypto currency transactions and cryptocurrency transactions that include requests for risk determinations maybe added to a common memory pool and processed as discussed below whileremaining within the scope of the present disclosure.

The method 100 begins at block 102 where a payer device creates andbroadcasts a crypto currency transaction that includes a request for arisk determination. In an embodiment, at block 102 a payer and payee maybe involved in a transaction where the payer is to pay the payee forproducts and/or services. In the embodiments discussed below, the payeeaccepts crypto currency, and the payer would like to pay for thetransaction with crypto currency. In a specific example, a paymentservice provider such as, for example, PAYPAL® Inc. of San Jose, Calif.,United States, provides a wallet application on the payer device thatallows the payer to pay for transaction using crypto currency, and alsoallows the determination of a risk associated with a crypto currencytransaction. For example, a payer involved in a transaction with a payeemay open a wallet application on their payment device, and select anoption to use a crypto currency to perform that transaction. In someembodiments, the wallet application may provide the payer the option torequest that a risk determination be performed with the crypto currencytransaction (i.e., in selecting an option on a wallet GUI to use acrypto currency to perform the transaction, the user may also select anoption on the wallet GUI to have a risk determination be performed withthe crypto currency transaction.) In other embodiments, the selection ofthe option to use a crypto currency to perform the transaction mayinclude, by default, the request to perform the risk determination withthe crypto currency transaction.

In some embodiments, the payer may use a payer device 408 to create thecrypto currency transaction that includes the request to perform therisk determination on the payee involved in the transaction. As such, apayer who only desires to perform crypto currency transactions withpayees that satisfy particular risk criteria may create their cryptocurrency transactions that include conventional crypto currencytransaction information (e.g., a public address controlled by the payee,a transaction amount, etc.) along with a request to perform a riskdetermination about the payee. In some embodiments, the payer may use apayer device 408 to create, at the request of the payee, the cryptocurrency transaction that includes the request to perform the riskdetermination on the payer involved in the transaction. As such, a payeewho only desires to perform crypto currency transactions with payersthat satisfy particular risk criteria may require payers to create theircrypto currency transactions that include conventional crypto currencytransaction information (e.g., a public address controlled by the payee,a transaction amount, etc.) along with a request to perform a riskdetermination on the payer involved in the transaction. Furthermore,payers may use their payer device 408 to create crypto currencytransactions that include requests to perform the risk determination onboth the payer and the payee involved in the transaction.

In different embodiments, the request to perform the risk determinationwith the crypto currency transaction may identify a variety of riskcriteria that should be checked for the payer and/or the payee. Forexample, risk criteria for performing a risk determination may includecrypto-currency-blockchain-specific risk criteria such as, for example,whether a crypto currency public address has ever been used to receiveand/or receive electronic coins, how long the crypto currency publicaddress has held electronic coins and/or its history of holdingelectronic coins, whether the payment service provider has certified thecrypto currency public address as legitimate, etc. Furthermore, the riskcriteria for performing a risk determination may includenon-crypto-currency-blockchain-specific risk criteria such as whether aparty to the crypto currency transaction can be identified by a validInternet Protocol (IP) address, whether a party to the transaction isassociated with an approved country or location, whether a party to thetransaction has performed crypto currency transactions using the systembefore, whether the party to the crypto currency transactions has hadprevious crypto currency transactions disputed or reported, etc., and/ora variety of other risk criteria that would be apparent to one of skillin the art in possession of the present disclosure. While some specificexamples of risk criteria have been provided, one of skill in the art inpossession of the present disclosure will recognize that any riskcriteria may be identified in a crypto currency transaction whileremaining within the scope of the present disclosure.

In some examples, the risk criteria may be included in the cryptocurrency transaction in their entirety (e.g., the crypto currencytransaction may include metadata that details each risk criteria thatshould be checked for the payer and/or the payee (e.g., “ensure payee islocated in an approved country”). However, in other embodiments, therisk criteria included in the crypto currency transaction may beprovided as reference pointers that may be used by system providerdevices 412 to access a risk criteria reference, which operates toreduce the size of crypto currency transactions that includes requeststo perform risk determinations (e.g., a reference pointer of “1” may beidentified in a risk criteria reference as “ensure party is located inan approved country”, thus allowing the identification of the riskcriteria in the crypto currency transaction to be performed using asingle digit). While a few examples of providing requests to performrisk determinations and/or risk criteria in a crypto currencytransaction have been provided, one of skill in the art in possession ofthe present disclosure will recognize that the risk determinationrequests of the present disclosure may be provided in crypto currencytransactions in a wide variety of manners while remaining within thescope of the present disclosure.

Following the creation of the crypto currency transaction, the walletapplication on the payer device 408 may operate to broadcast that cryptocurrency transaction through the network to the system provider devices412. As such, different payer devices 408 may create respective cryptocurrency transactions and broadcast those transactions through thenetwork to the system provider devices 412. While block 102 of themethod 100 describes those crypto currency transactions as includingrequests to perform risk determinations, one of skill in the art inpossession of the present disclosure will recognize that, in someembodiments, payer devices 408 may also create conventional cryptocurrency transactions and broadcast them through the network to thesystem provider devices 412 as well.

The method 100 then proceeds to block 104 where a computing devicereceives crypto currency transactions. In an embodiment, at block 104,the system provider devices 412 may receive crypto currencytransactions. As discussed above, the system provider devices 412 may bea part of a distributed network of computing devices that operate tomaintain the crypto currency public ledger that tracks the exchange ofelectronic coins via the transactions broadcast through the network. Assuch, at block 104, any number of system provider devices 412 mayreceive conventional crypto currency transactions, as well as cryptocurrency transactions that include the request to perform the riskdeterminations of the present disclosure. In some embodiments, systemprovider devices 412 receiving crypto currency transactions at block 104may store those crypto currency transactions in a memory pool prior toadding them to a block. However, as discussed above, in embodiments thatutilize the memory pool subsystem 500 of FIG. 5, system provider devices412 may receive crypto currency transactions that include requests forrisk determinations at block 104 and store those crypto currencytransactions in the risk memory pool 504, and may receive conventionalcrypto currency transactions at block 104 and store those conventionalcrypto currency transactions in the transaction memory pool 506.

The method 100 then proceeds to decision block 106 where the computingdevice determines whether a crypto currency transaction includes arequest for a risk determination. In an embodiment, at decision block106, a system provider device 412 may access a memory pool and retrievea crypto currency transaction. As discussed above, in embodiments inwhich conventional crypto currency transactions and crypto currencytransaction including requests for risk determinations are stored in acommon memory pool, the system provider device 412 may access thatcommon memory pool and retrieve either a conventional crypto currencytransaction or a crypto currency transaction including a request forrisk determination. Thus, at decision block 106, the system providerdevice 412 may operate to analyze the metadata included in the cryptocurrency transaction that was retrieved in order to determine whetherthat crypto currency transaction includes the request to perform therisk determination. For example, the request to perform the riskdetermination may include a risk determination bit that is set inmetadata of the crypto currency transaction, while conventional cryptocurrency transactions will not have the risk determination bit set, andthe system provider device 412 may detect whether the risk determinationbit is set to determine if the crypto currency transaction includes arequest to perform a risk determination.

In embodiments that utilize the memory pool subsystem 500 of FIG. 5, thesystem provider device 412 may access the transaction memory pool 506and retrieve a conventional crypto currency transaction, or access therisk memory pool 504 and retrieve a crypto currency transaction thatincludes a request to perform a risk determination. As such, thedetermination at decision block 106 of whether the crypto currencytransaction includes a request for a risk determination may be performedin response to performing a determination of whether to access the riskmemory pool 504 (which includes crypto currency transactions withrequests for risk determinations) or to access the transaction memorypool 506 (which includes conventional crypto currency transactions.)

If, at decision block 106, the computing device determines that thecrypto currency transaction does not include a request for a riskdetermination, the method 100 proceeds to block 108 where the computingdevice provides the crypto currency transaction for addition to a blockin a crypto currency public ledger. In an embodiment, a system providerdevice 412 that retrieves a conventional crypto currency transactionfrom a common memory pool or the transaction memory pool 506 maydetermine that that crypto currency transaction does not include arequest for a risk determination, and at block 108 will provide thecrypto currency transaction for addition to a block in the cryptocurrency public ledger by grouping that crypto currency transaction withother crypto currency transactions, and then incrementing a proof-ofwork system that includes determining a value that when hashed withthose crypto currency transactions provides a required number of zerobits, thus creating the block that is added to the crypto currencypublic ledger.

If, at decision block 106, the computing device determines that thecrypto currency transaction includes a request for a risk determination,the method 100 proceeds to block 110 where the computing deviceidentifies a payee and/or a payer involved in the crypto currencytransaction. In an embodiment, at decision block 106, a system providerdevice 412 may access a memory pool and retrieve a crypto currencytransaction. As discussed above, in embodiments in which conventionalcrypto currency transactions and crypto currency transaction includingrequests for risk determinations are stored in a common memory pool, thesystem provider device 412 may access that common memory pool andretrieve a crypto currency transaction, and then analyze the metadataincluded in the crypto currency transaction in order to determinewhether that crypto currency transaction includes the request to performthe risk determination (e.g., by detecting whether the riskdetermination bit is set). In embodiments that utilize the memory poolsubsystem 500 of FIG. 5, the system provider device may access the riskmemory pool 504 and retrieve a crypto currency transaction that includesa request to perform a risk determination. As such, the determination atdecision block 106 of whether the crypto currency transaction includes arequest for a risk determination may be performed in response to adetermination to access the risk memory pool 504 (which includes cryptocurrency transactions with request for risk determinations)

If, at decision block 106, the computing device determines that thecrypto currency transaction includes a request for a risk determination,the method 100 proceeds to block 110 where the computing deviceidentifies a payer and/or a payee involved in the transaction. In anembodiment, a system provider device 412 that retrieves a cryptocurrency transaction having a request for risk determination from acommon memory pool or from the risk memory pool 504 may determine thatthat crypto currency transaction includes a request for a riskdetermination, and at block 110 will analyze that transaction todetermine whether the risk determination is requested for the payerinvolved in the crypto currency transaction, the payee involved in thecrypto currency transaction, or both the payer and the payee involved inthe crypto currency transaction.

In some embodiments, payees (e.g., merchants) may register the publicaddresses they use to receive crypto currency transactions with riskinformation providers. For example, payees may participate in the riskdetermination enabled crypto currency transaction system 400 byproviding, through the network 406 to the risk information providerdevice(s) 402 via their payee devices 410, any public address that theywill provide to payers to receive crypto currency from those payers incrypto currency transactions that request risk determinations. The riskinformation provider device(s) 402 may then store those public addressesin association with identifiers for those payees in a registered publicaddress database that is included with or similar to the riskinformation database(s) 404. As such, in some embodiments, at block 110and in response to determining that a risk determination for the payeein the crypto currency transaction has been requested, the systemprovider device 412 may identify the public address controlled by thepayee that is included in the crypto currency transaction in order toidentify the payee involved in the crypto currency transaction. Asdiscussed in further detail below, while the identification of thepublic address controlled by the payee does not actually provideconclusive proof of the payees identity at this point in the method 100,the linking of the payees identity to that public address in theregistered public address database/risk information database(s) 404 willallow for such identification as the method 100 continues.

Similarly, in some embodiments, payers (e.g., customers) may registerthe public addresses they use to send crypto currency transactions withrisk information providers. For example, payers may participate in therisk determination enabled crypto currency transaction system 400 byproviding, through the network 406 to the risk information providerdevice(s) 402 via their payer devices 408, any public address that theywill use to send crypto currency to payees in crypto currencytransactions that request risk determinations. The risk informationprovider device(s) 402 may then store those public addresses in theregistered public address database/risk information database(s) 404 inassociation with identifiers for those payers. As such, in someembodiments, at block 110 and in response to determining that a riskdetermination for the payer in the crypto currency transaction has beenrequested, the system provider device 412 may identify the publicaddress that is controlled by the payer and that is being used to sendcrypto currency in the crypto currency transaction in order to identifythe payer involved in the crypto currency transaction. As discussed infurther detail below, while the identification of the public addresscontrolled by the payer does not actually provide conclusive proof ofthe payers identity at this point in the method 100, the linking of thepayers identity to that public address in the registered public addressdatabase/risk information database(s) 404 will allow for suchidentification as the method 100 continues.

The method 100 then proceeds to block 112 where the computing deviceaccesses risk information for the payer and/or the payee in externalrisk information database(s). In an embodiment, at block 112, the systemprovider device 412 may provide, to the risk information providerdevice(s) 402, the public address controlled by the payee that wasidentified in the crypto currency transaction, along with a request forrisk information that corresponds to the risk criteria that was includedin the request for the risk determination for the crypto currencytransaction. For example, the system provider device 412 may review therequest for the risk determination in the crypto currency transaction inorder to identify the risk criteria that has been requested to bedetermined for the payee involved in the crypto currency transaction. Assuch, the system provider device 412 may identify the risk criteria (orreference pointers for the risk criteria, discussed above) in metadataincluded in the crypto currency transaction, and determine which riskinformation provider device(s) 402 control access to risk information(i.e., in their risk information database(s) 404) that allows for thedetermination of that risk criteria.) The system provider device 412then provides the public address controlled by the payee along with thatrisk criteria to the determined risk information provider device(s) 402.

Similarly, in an embodiment, at block 112, the system provider device412 may provide, to the risk information provider device(s) 402, thepublic address controlled by the payer that was identified in the cryptocurrency transaction, along with a request for risk information thatcorresponds to the risk criteria that was included in the request forthe risk determination for the crypto currency transaction. For example,the system provider device 412 may review the request for the riskdetermination in the crypto currency transaction in order to identifythe risk criteria that has been requested to be determined for the payerinvolved in the crypto currency transaction. As such, the systemprovider device 412 may identify the risk criteria (or referencepointers for the risk criteria, discussed above) in metadata included inthe crypto currency transaction, and determine which risk informationprovider device(s) 402 control access to risk information (i.e., intheir risk information database(s) 404) that allows for thedetermination of that risk criteria. The system provider device 412 thenprovides the public address controlled by the payer along with that riskcriteria to the determined risk information provider devices 402.

At block 112, risk information provider device(s) 402 that received theidentity of the payers and/or payees along with requests for riskinformation (via identified risk criteria) then access their riskinformation database(s) and use the identities of the payers and/orpayees to retrieve risk information about those payers and/or payees.For example, upon receiving the identification of a public addresscontrolled by the payee along with identified risk criteria, a riskinformation provider device 402 may use the identification of the publicaddress controlled by the payee to access risk information stored in therisk information database(s) 404 about that payee (which is linked inthose databases to the public address controlled by that payee asdiscussed above). Then, using the risk criteria identified by the systemprovider device, the risk information provider device 102 may retrieveany risk information stored for that payee that corresponds to thoseidentified risk criteria, and send it through the network to the systemprovider device 412. As discussed above, risk criteria may be identifiedvia reference pointers, and at block 112, the risk information providerdevice 402 may access a risk criteria reference using those referencepointers to identify the risk criteria used to retrieve the riskinformation for the payee.

Similarly, upon receiving the identification of a public addresscontrolled by the payer along with identified risk criteria, a riskinformation provider device 402 may use the identification of the publicaddress controlled by the payer to access risk information stored in therisk information database(s) 404 about that payer (which is linked inthose databases to the public address controlled by that payer asdiscussed above). Then, using the risk criteria identified by the systemprovider device 412, the risk information provider device 402 mayretrieve risk information for that payer that corresponds to thatidentified risk criteria, and send it through the network to the systemprovider device 412. As discussed above, risk criteria may be identifiedvia reference pointers, and at block 112, the risk information providerdevice 402 may access a risk criteria reference using those referencepointers to identify the risk criteria used to retrieve the riskinformation for the payer.

As such, at block 112, the system provider device(s) 412 may retrieverisk information about the payer and/or the payee based on the requestfor the risk determination that is included in the crypto currencytransactions. While the discussions above focus on system providerdevices 412 that are separate from the risk information provider devices402, in some embodiments, risk information provision and system providerfunctionality may be combined into single devices or entities, whichallows the system provider device/risk information provider device toretrieve the risk information from the risk information database(s)itself in response to identifying the payer and/or payee and the riskcriteria to be considered for the crypto currency transaction. As such,one of skill in the art in possession of the present disclosure willrecognize that the accessing of the risk information may be performed ina variety of manners other than those that have been explicitlydescribed while remaining within the scope of the present disclosure.

The method 100 then proceeds to decision block 114 where the computingdevice determines whether the risk information satisfies risk criteriain the request for the risk determination. In an embodiment, at decisionblock 114, the system provider device 412 determines whether the riskinformation received for the payer and/or the payee at block 112satisfies the risk criteria identified in the request for the riskdetermination for the crypto currency transaction. Thus, at decisionblock 114, the system provider device 412 may compare the riskinformation received for the payee to the risk criteria included in therequest for the risk determination about the payee involved in thecrypto currency transaction. Similarly, at decision block 114, thesystem provider device 412 may compare the risk information received forthe payer to the risk criteria included in the request for the riskdetermination about the payer involved in the crypto currencytransaction

In specific examples, and in addition to the risk information/riskcriteria discussed above, the determination of whether the riskinformation satisfies the risk criteria included in the riskdetermination about the payee in the crypto currency transaction mayinclude whether payee has transacted on the crypto currency publicledger before and, if not, how long has the payee public address heldelectronic coins on the crypto currency public ledger; whether the payeehas transacted previously with the payer, a number of disputedtransaction associated with the payee, etc. Any of these determinationsmay result in an assignment or adjustment of a risk score that may becompared to a risk threshold that determines whether the riskinformation satisfies the risk criteria included in the riskdetermination about the payee in the crypto currency transaction. Whilea few specific examples have been provided, one of skill in the art inpossession of the present disclosure will appreciate that any type ofrisk information about a payee may be retrieved compared to any type ofrisk criteria to determine whether it satisfies that risk criteria whileremaining within the scope of the present disclosure.

In a specific examples, and in addition to the risk information/riskcriteria discussed above, the determination of whether the riskinformation satisfies the risk criteria included in the riskdetermination about the payer in the crypto currency transaction mayinclude whether the payer is a verified person or an approved entitybased on prior transactions received at the payer public address,whether the payer public address has been certified by the paymentservice provider, etc. Any of these determinations may result in anassignment or adjustment of a risk score that may be compared to a riskthreshold that determines whether the risk information satisfies therisk criteria included in the risk determination about the payer in thecrypto currency transaction. Furthermore, as discussed herein, the riskthreshold may determine how many confirmations a block including thecrypto currency transaction will be required before it is accepted bythe payee. While a few specific examples have been provided, one ofskill in the art in possession of the present disclosure will appreciatethat any type of risk information about a payer may be retrievedcompared to any type of risk criteria to determine whether it satisfiesthat risk criteria while remaining within the scope of the presentdisclosure.

If, at decision block 114, the computing device determines that the riskinformation satisfies the risk criteria in the request for the riskdetermination, the method 100 proceeds to block 108 where the computingdevice provides the crypto currency transaction for addition to a blockin a crypto currency public ledger substantially as described above. Asdiscussed below, the provisioning of the crypto currency transaction foraddition to a block in the crypto currency public ledger may beperformed in a variety of manners that will fall within the scope of thepresent disclosure.

For example, in situations where the memory pool subsystem 500 of FIG. 5is used in the risk determination enabled crypto currency transactionsystem 400, the determination that the risk information satisfies therisk criteria in the request for the risk determination may result inthe system provider device then moving that crypto currency transactionto the transaction memory pool 506. Once stored in the transactionmemory pool 506, any of the system provider devices 412 may group thecrypto currency transaction (for which the risk determination processhas determined that risk criteria has been satisfied) with other cryptocurrency transactions, and then increment a proof-of work system (e.g.,determining a value that when hashed with those crypto currencytransactions provides a required number of zero bits) to create theblock that is then added to the crypto currency public ledger. As such,when the memory pool subsystem 500 is implemented as part of the riskdetermination enabled crypto currency transaction system 400, cryptocurrency transactions that include requests for risk determinations mayundergo a multi-memory pool process in which risk determinations forthose crypto currency transaction are conducted from crypto currencytransactions in a risk memory pool and, if the payer and/or payee inthose crypto currency transactions satisfy risk criteria, those cryptocurrency transaction are then moved to a transaction memory pool wherethey may then be added to a block in the crypto currency public ledger.

In such embodiments, a risk determination fee system may be implementedwhere system provider devices 412 are incentivized to perform riskdeterminations. For example, crypto currency transactions includingrequests to perform risk determinations may be broadcast by payerdevices and added to the risk memory pool 506, where first systemprovider devices may perform risk determinations for payers and/orpayees in those crypto currency transactions and receive a fee for doingso. If the payers and/or payees in those crypto currency transactionssatisfy the risk criteria, those crypto currency transactions may berebroadcast to second system provider devices who will add those cryptocurrency transactions to the transaction memory pool, and group thosecrypto currency transactions in an attempt to add them to a block in thecrypto currency public ledger, and also receive a fee for doing so.Similarly, a determination that the payers and/or payees in those cryptocurrency transactions do not satisfy the risk criteria, those cryptocurrency transactions will not be rebroadcast to second system providerdevices such that they are not added the transaction memory pool andwill not be included in any blocks on the crypto currency public ledger.One of skill in the art in possession of the present disclosure willrecognize that, in such a system, the first system provider devices andthe second system provider devices discussed above may perform both riskdetermination and block creation in order to collect fees for each.

In another example, in situations where the risk determination enabledcrypto currency transaction system 400 groups conventional cryptocurrency transaction and crypto currency transactions with requests forrisk determinations in a common memory pool, the determination that therisk information satisfies the risk criteria in the request for the riskdetermination may result in the system provider device then grouping thecrypto currency transaction (for which the risk determination processhas determined that risk criteria has been satisfied) with other cryptocurrency transactions, and then incrementing a proof-of work system(e.g., determining a value that when hashed with those crypto currencytransactions provides a required number of zero bits) to create theblock that is then added to the crypto currency public ledger. As such,system provider devices may perform risk determinations for cryptocurrency transaction (for a fee in some embodiments) and, if the payerand/or payee in those crypto currency transactions satisfy riskcriteria, then attempt to create a block for addition to the cryptocurrency public ledger.

In some embodiments, the addition of the crypto currency transaction toa block in the public ledger at block 108 following a determination atdecision block 114 that its risk information satisfies the risk criteriain its request may provide for a higher trust level associated with thecrypto currency transaction. For example, upon having the determinationthat made that the risk information satisfies the risk criteria in therequest in the crypto currency transaction, the crypto currencytransaction may be marked as a “trusted” or “risk certified”transaction. As would be understood by one of skill in the art inpossession of the present disclosure, upon being initially added to ablock in the crypto currency public ledger by a first computing devicein the distributed network, other second computing devices in thedistributed network may confirm that block, and payees typically requirea minimum number of a confirmation of a block (e.g., 6 to 10, and insome cases more depending on the transaction) before its transactionsare accepted as permanent. However, payees may required fewerconfirmations to accept as permanent a crypto currency transaction in ablock if that crypto currency transaction is “trusted” or “riskcertified” as discussed above. Furthermore, payees may required moreconfirmations to accept as permanent a crypto currency transaction in ablock if that crypto currency transaction is not “trusted” or “riskcertified” as discussed above.

If, at decision block 114, the computing device determines that the riskinformation does not satisfy the risk criteria in the request for therisk determination, the method 100 proceeds to block 116 where thecomputing device prevents the crypto currency transaction from beingadded to a block in the crypto currency public ledger. In an embodiment,at block 116. As discussed below, the prevention of the crypto currencytransaction from being added to a block in the crypto currency publicledger may be performed in a variety of manners that will fall withinthe scope of the present disclosure.

For example, in situations where the memory pool subsystem 500 of FIG. 5is used in the risk determination enabled crypto currency transactionsystem 400, the determination that the risk information does not satisfythe risk criteria in the request for the risk determination may resultin the system provider device then rejecting that crypto currencytransaction such that it is not added the transaction memory pool 506.By preventing the crypto currency transaction from being added to thetransaction memory pool 506, system provider devices 412 will not beable to group the crypto currency transaction (for which the riskdetermination process has determined that risk criteria has not beensatisfied) with other crypto currency transactions as part of any blockthat will be added to the crypto currency public ledger. As such, whenthe memory pool subsystem 500 is implemented as part of the riskdetermination enabled crypto currency transaction system 400, cryptocurrency transactions that include requests for risk determinations thatare not satisfied will undergo a first portion of a multi-memory poolprocess in which risk determinations for those crypto currencytransaction are conducted from crypto currency transactions in a riskmemory pool and, if the payer and/or payee in those crypto currencytransactions does not satisfy risk criteria, those crypto currencytransaction are prevented from entering a transaction memory pool suchthat they may not be added to a block in the crypto currency publicledger.

In another example, in situations where the risk determination enabledcrypto currency transaction system 400 groups conventional cryptocurrency transaction and crypto currency transactions with requests forrisk determinations in a common memory pool, the determination that therisk information does not satisfy the risk criteria in the request forthe risk determination may result in the system provider device thendropping the crypto currency transaction (for which the riskdetermination process has determined that risk criteria has beensatisfied) such that it is not part of any block that the systemprovider device then attempt to add to the crypto currency publicledger. As such, system provider devices may perform risk determinationsfor crypto currency transaction and, if the payer and/or payee in thosecrypto currency transactions do not satisfy risk criteria, that cryptocurrency transaction is not grouped with any other crypto currencytransaction for attempted addition to block in the crypto currencytransaction, and is thus prevented from being added to a block foraddition to the crypto currency public ledger.

Thus, systems and methods for enabling risk determinations in a cryptocurrency transaction have been described that allow payers and/or payeesparticipating in crypto currency transactions to request a determinationof the risk involved with either or both parties in the crypto currencytransaction and, if risk criteria is not satisfied by either or both ofthose parties, prevent that transaction from completing. A payercreating the crypto currency transaction may create a crypto currencytransaction that includes a request for a risk determination thatdesignates risk criteria for a payer and/or the payee involved in thatcrypto currency transaction. The payer may then broadcast the cryptocurrency transaction via a network, and computing device(s) may receivethat crypto currency transaction, identify the request to make the riskdetermination, and add it to a risk determination memory pool. Acomputing device may then retrieve the transaction from the riskdetermination memory pool, identify the payee and/or payer involved inthe crypto currency transaction, and access an external risk informationdatabase in order to identify risk information about the payer and/orpayee. A determination is then made of whether the risk informationsatisfies the risk criteria in the request, and if the risk informationsatisfies the risk criteria the crypto currency transaction is providedto a transaction memory pool so that it may be added to a block in acrypto currency public ledger, while if the risk information does notsatisfy the risk criteria in the request the crypto currency transactionis not provided to the transaction memory pool such that it is preventedfrom being added to a block in a crypto currency public ledger.

Referring now to FIG. 6, an embodiment of a network-based system 600 forimplementing one or more processes described herein is illustrated. Asshown, network-based system 600 may comprise or implement a plurality ofservers and/or software components that operate to perform variousmethodologies in accordance with the described embodiments. Exemplaryservers may include, for example, stand-alone and enterprise-classservers operating a server OS such as a MICROSOFT® OS, a UNIX® OS, aLINUX® OS, or other suitable server-based OS. It can be appreciated thatthe servers illustrated in FIG. 6 may be deployed in other ways and thatthe operations performed and/or the services provided by such serversmay be combined or separated for a given implementation and may beperformed by a greater number or fewer number of servers. One or moreservers may be operated and/or maintained by the same or differententities.

The embodiment of the networked system 600 illustrated in FIG. 6includes a plurality of payer devices 602, a plurality of payee devices604, a plurality of risk information provider devices 605, a paymentservice provider device 606, and a system provider device 608 incommunication over a network 610. Any of the payer devices 602 may bethe payer devices operated by the payers discussed above. The payeedevices 604 may be the payee devices operated by the payees discussedabove. The risk information provider devices 605 may be the riskinformation provider devices operated by the risk information providersdiscussed above. The payment service provider device 606 may be thepayment service provider devices discussed above and may be operated bya payment service provider such as, for example, PayPal Inc. of SanJose, Calif. The system provider device 608 may provide, for example,the distributed network of computing devices discussed above.

The payer devices 602, payee devices 604, risk information providerdevices 605, payment service provider device 606, and system providerdevices 608 may each include one or more processors, memories, and otherappropriate components for executing instructions such as program codeand/or data stored on one or more computer readable mediums to implementthe various applications, data, and steps described herein. For example,such instructions may be stored in one or more computer readable mediumssuch as memories or data storage devices internal and/or external tovarious components of the system 600, and/or accessible over the network610.

The network 610 may be implemented as a single network or a combinationof multiple networks. For example, in various embodiments, the network610 may include the Internet and/or one or more intranets, landlinenetworks, wireless networks, and/or other appropriate types of networks.

The payer devices 602 may be implemented using any appropriatecombination of hardware and/or software configured for wired and/orwireless communication over network 610. For example, in one embodiment,the payer devices 602 may be implemented as a personal computer of auser in communication with the Internet. In other embodiments, the payerdevices 602 may be a smart phone, personal digital assistant (PDA),laptop computer, and/or other types of computing devices.

The payer devices 602 may include one or more browser applications whichmay be used, for example, to provide a convenient interface to permitthe payer to browse information available over the network 610. Forexample, in one embodiment, the browser application may be implementedas a web browser configured to view information available over theInternet.

The payer devices 602 may also include one or more toolbar applicationswhich may be used, for example, to provide user-side processing forperforming desired tasks in response to operations selected by thepayer. In one embodiment, the toolbar application may display a userinterface in connection with the browser application.

The payer devices 602 may further include other applications as may bedesired in particular embodiments to provide desired features to thepayer devices 602. In particular, the other applications may include apayment application for payments assisted by a payment service providerthrough the payment service provider device 606. The other applicationsmay also include security applications for implementing user-sidesecurity features, programmatic user applications for interfacing withappropriate application programming interfaces (APIs) over the network610, or other types of applications. Email and/or text applications mayalso be included, which allow the payer to send and receive emailsand/or text messages through the network 610. The payer devices 602include one or more user and/or device identifiers which may beimplemented, for example, as operating system registry entries, cookiesassociated with the browser application, identifiers associated withhardware of the payer devices 602, or other appropriate identifiers,such as a phone number. In one embodiment, the user identifier may beused by the risk information provider device 605 and/or the paymentservice provider device 606 to associate the payer with a particularaccount as further described herein.

The payee devices 604 may be maintained, for example, by conventional oron-line merchants, conventional or digital goods sellers, individualsellers, and/or application developers offering various products and/orservices in exchange for payment to be received conventionally or overthe network 610. In this regard, the payee devices 604 may include adatabase identifying available products and/or services (e.g.,collectively referred to as items) which may be made available forviewing and purchase by the payer.

The payee devices 604 also include checkout application which may beconfigured to facilitate the purchase by the payer of items. Thecheckout application may be configured to accept payment informationfrom the user through the payer devices 602, the system provider throughthe system provider device 608, and/or from the payment service providerthrough the payment service provider device 606 over the network 610.

Referring now to FIG. 7, an embodiment of a payer device 700 isillustrated. The payer device 700 may be the payer devices discussedabove, and may include a chassis 702 having a display 704 and an inputdevice including the display 704 and a plurality of input buttons 706.One of skill in the art will recognize that the payer device 700 is aportable or mobile phone including a touch screen input device and aplurality of input buttons that allow the functionality discussed abovewith reference to the method 100. However, a variety of otherportable/mobile payer devices and/or desktop payer devices may be usedin the method 100 without departing from the scope of the presentdisclosure.

Referring now to FIG. 8, an embodiment of a computer system 800 suitablefor implementing, for example, the payer devices, the payee devices, therisk information provider devices, the payment service provider device,and/or the system provider device discussed above, is illustrated. Itshould be appreciated that other devices utilized by payer, payees,users, payment service providers, and system providers in the paymentsystem discussed above may be implemented as the computer system 800 ina manner as follows.

In accordance with various embodiments of the present disclosure,computer system 800, such as a computer and/or a network server,includes a bus 802 or other communication mechanism for communicatinginformation, which interconnects subsystems and components, such as aprocessing component 804 (e.g., processor, micro-controller, digitalsignal processor (DSP), etc.), a system memory component 806 (e.g.,RAM), a static storage component 808 (e.g., ROM), a disk drive component810 (e.g., magnetic or optical), a network interface component 812(e.g., modem or Ethernet card), a display component 814 (e.g., CRT orLCD), an input component 818 (e.g., keyboard, keypad, or virtualkeyboard), a cursor control component 820 (e.g., mouse, pointer, ortrackball), and/or a location determination component 822 (e.g., aGlobal Positioning System (GPS) device as illustrated, a cell towertriangulation device, and/or a variety of other location determinationdevices known in the art.) In one implementation, the disk drivecomponent 810 may comprise a database having one or more disk drivecomponents.

In accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure, the computersystem 800 performs specific operations by the processor 804 executingone or more sequences of instructions contained in the memory component806, such as described herein with respect to the payer devices, thepayee devices, the user devices, the payment service provider device,and/or the system provider devices discussed above. Such instructionsmay be read into the system memory component 806 from another computerreadable medium, such as the static storage component 808 or the diskdrive component 810. In other embodiments, hard-wired circuitry may beused in place of or in combination with software instructions toimplement the present disclosure.

Logic may be encoded in a computer readable medium, which may refer toany medium that participates in providing instructions to the processor804 for execution. Such a medium may take many forms, including but notlimited to, non-volatile media, volatile media, and transmission media.In one embodiment, the computer readable medium is non-transitory. Invarious implementations, non-volatile media includes optical or magneticdisks, such as the disk drive component 810, volatile media includesdynamic memory, such as the system memory component 806, andtransmission media includes coaxial cables, copper wire, and fiberoptics, including wires that comprise the bus 802. In one example,transmission media may take the form of acoustic or light waves, such asthose generated during radio wave and infrared data communications.

Some common forms of computer readable media includes, for example,floppy disk, flexible disk, hard disk, magnetic tape, any other magneticmedium, CD-ROM, any other optical medium, punch cards, paper tape, anyother physical medium with patterns of holes, RAM, PROM, EPROM,FLASH-EPROM, any other memory chip or cartridge, carrier wave, or anyother medium from which a computer is adapted to read. In oneembodiment, the computer readable media is non-transitory.

In various embodiments of the present disclosure, execution ofinstruction sequences to practice the present disclosure may beperformed by the computer system 800. In various other embodiments ofthe present disclosure, a plurality of the computer systems 800 coupledby a communication link 824 to the network 610 (e.g., such as a LAN,WLAN, PTSN, and/or various other wired or wireless networks, includingtelecommunications, mobile, and cellular phone networks) may performinstruction sequences to practice the present disclosure in coordinationwith one another.

The computer system 800 may transmit and receive messages, data,information and instructions, including one or more programs (i.e.,application code) through the communication link 824 and the networkinterface component 812. The network interface component 812 may includean antenna, either separate or integrated, to enable transmission andreception via the communication link 824. Received program code may beexecuted by processor 804 as received and/or stored in disk drivecomponent 810 or some other non-volatile storage component forexecution.

Referring now to FIG. 9, an embodiment of a system provider device 900is illustrated. The device 900 includes a communication engine 902 thatis coupled to the network 610 and to a risk determination engine 904that is coupled to a risk determination database 906. The communicationengine 902 may be software or instructions stored on a computer-readablemedium that allows the device 900 to send and receive information overthe network 610. The risk determination engine 904 may be software orinstructions stored on a computer-readable medium that, when executed byone or more hardware processors, cause the device to perform any of thefunctionality that is discussed above. While the database 906 has beenillustrated as located in the device 900, one of skill in the art willrecognize that it may be connected to the risk determination engine 904through the network 610 without departing from the scope of the presentdisclosure.

Where applicable, various embodiments provided by the present disclosuremay be implemented using hardware, software, or combinations of hardwareand software. Also, where applicable, the various hardware componentsand/or software components set forth herein may be combined intocomposite components comprising software, hardware, and/or both withoutdeparting from the scope of the present disclosure. Where applicable,the various hardware components and/or software components set forthherein may be separated into sub-components comprising software,hardware, or both without departing from the scope of the presentdisclosure. In addition, where applicable, it is contemplated thatsoftware components may be implemented as hardware components andvice-versa.

Software, in accordance with the present disclosure, such as programcode and/or data, may be stored on one or more computer readablemediums. It is also contemplated that software identified herein may beimplemented using one or more general purpose or specific purposecomputers and/or computer systems, networked and/or otherwise. Whereapplicable, the ordering of various steps described herein may bechanged, combined into composite steps, and/or separated into sub-stepsto provide features described herein.

The foregoing disclosure is not intended to limit the present disclosureto the precise forms or particular fields of use disclosed. As such, itis contemplated that various alternate embodiments and/or modificationsto the present disclosure, whether explicitly described or impliedherein, are possible in light of the disclosure. For example, the aboveembodiments have focused on payees and payers; however, a payer orconsumer can pay, or otherwise interact with any type of recipient,including charities and individuals. The payment does not have toinvolve a purchase, but may be a loan, a charitable contribution, agift, etc. Thus, payee as used herein can also include charities,individuals, and any other entity or person receiving a payment from apayer. Having thus described embodiments of the present disclosure,persons of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that changes may bemade in form and detail without departing from the scope of the presentdisclosure. Thus, the present disclosure is limited only by the claims.

1. (canceled)
 2. A computer system, comprising: a processor; and one ormore computer-readable media having stored thereon instructions that areexecutable to cause the computer system to perform operationscomprising: receiving, through a network from a first device, a firstcryptocurrency transaction that comprises: a first payee public address;based on the first cryptocurrency transaction, identifying a firstrequest for a determination of risk for the first cryptocurrencytransaction using at least one first risk criteria; storing, in responseto identifying the first request for the determination of risk, firstdetails regarding the first cryptocurrency transaction in a riskdetermination memory area; receiving, through the network from a secondpayer device, a second cryptocurrency transaction that comprises asecond payee public address; storing second details regarding the secondcryptocurrency transaction in a transaction memory area; retrieving,subsequent to storing the first details regarding the firstcryptocurrency transaction in the risk determination memory area, thefirst details regarding the first cryptocurrency transaction from therisk determination memory area; identifying, using the first payeepublic address, a first payee involved in the first cryptocurrencytransaction; accessing, via at least one risk information database andbased on the identification of the first payee, first payee riskinformation; determining that the first payee risk information satisfiesthe at least one first risk criteria; placing, in response todetermining that the first payee risk information satisfies the at leastone first risk criteria in the first request, the first detailsregarding the first cryptocurrency transaction in the transaction memoryarea for processing; retrieving, subsequent to storing the first detailsregarding the cryptocurrency transaction and the second detailsregarding the second cryptocurrency transaction in the transactionmemory area, the first details regarding the first cryptocurrencytransaction and the second details regarding the second cryptocurrencytransaction from the transaction memory area; generating a block usingthe first cryptocurrency transaction and the second cryptocurrencytransaction; and causing the block to be added to a cryptocurrencypublic ledger by broadcasting the block to a plurality of computingnodes in the network.
 3. The computer system of claim 2, wherein theoperations further comprise: in response to determining that the firstpayee risk information does not satisfy the at least one first riskcriteria in the first request, transmitting a response to a userassociated with the first cryptocurrency transaction indicating that thefirst cryptocurrency transaction failed a risk assessment.
 4. Thecomputer system of claim 3, wherein the operations further comprise: inresponse to determining that the first payee risk information does notsatisfy the at least one first risk criteria in the first request,discarding the first details regarding the first cryptocurrencytransaction from the risk determination memory area.
 5. The computersystem of claim 2, wherein the risk determination memory area isseparate from the transaction memory area.
 6. The computer system ofclaim 2, wherein determining that the first payee risk informationsatisfies the at least one first risk criteria includes assessingwhether a party to the transaction is associated with an approvedcountry or location.
 7. The computer system of claim 2, wherein the riskinformation database is a remote networked database.
 8. The computersystem of claim 2, wherein the operations further comprise: receiving,in response to generating the block using the first cryptocurrencytransaction and the second cryptocurrency transaction, a fee.
 9. Thecomputer system of claim 2, wherein at least a portion of the riskinformation database is included in the computer system.
 10. A method,comprising: receiving, at a computer system through a network from afirst device, a first cryptocurrency transaction that comprises: a firstpayee public address; based on the first cryptocurrency transaction, thecomputer system beginning processing of a determination of risk for thefirst cryptocurrency transaction using at least one first risk criteria;storing, in response to identifying the first request for thedetermination of risk, first details regarding the first cryptocurrencytransaction in a risk determination memory area; receiving, through thenetwork from a second payer device, a second cryptocurrency transactionthat comprises a second payee public address; storing second detailsregarding the second cryptocurrency transaction in a transaction memoryarea; retrieving, subsequent to storing the first details regarding thefirst cryptocurrency transaction in the risk determination memory area,the first details regarding the first cryptocurrency transaction fromthe risk determination memory area; identifying, using the first payeepublic address, a first payee involved in the first cryptocurrencytransaction; accessing, via at least one risk information database andbased on the identification of the first payee, first payee riskinformation; determining that the first payee risk information satisfiesthe at least one first risk criteria; placing, in response todetermining that the first payee risk information satisfies the at leastone first risk criteria in the first request, the first detailsregarding the first cryptocurrency transaction in the transaction memoryarea for processing; retrieving, subsequent to storing the first detailsregarding the cryptocurrency transaction and the second detailsregarding the second cryptocurrency transaction in the transactionmemory area, the first details regarding the first cryptocurrencytransaction and the second details regarding the second cryptocurrencytransaction from the transaction memory area; and the computer systemcausing a block to be added to a cryptocurrency public ledger bybroadcasting the block to a plurality of computing nodes in the network,the block including the first cryptocurrency transaction and the secondcryptocurrency transaction.
 11. The method of claim 10, wherein the atleast one first risk criteria includes one or more of a location, ahistory of prior cryptocurrency transactions, or a certification oflegitimacy by an electronic transaction service provider for the firstpayee public address.
 12. The method of claim 10, wherein the computersystem corresponds to an electronic transaction service provider, andwherein the first payee public address corresponds to a particular useraccount of the electronic transaction service provider.
 13. The methodof claim 12, wherein determining that the first payee risk informationsatisfies the at least one first risk criteria includes accessingaccount information of the particular user account.
 14. The method ofclaim 12, wherein accessing the first payee risk information includesaccessing a private internal database of the electronic transactionservice provider.
 15. The method of claim 10, wherein accessing thefirst payee risk information includes accessing a networked databaseexternal to the electronic transaction service provider.
 16. The methodof claim 10, further comprising the computer system generating the blockto be added to the cryptocurrency public ledger.
 17. The method of claim10, wherein the risk determination memory area and the transactionmemory area respectively comprise at least a first portion of memory ofthe computer system and at least a second portion of memory of thecomputer system.
 18. A non-transitory computer-readable medium havingstored thereon instructions that are executable by a computer system tocause the computer system to perform operations comprising: receiving,through a network from a first device, a first cryptocurrencytransaction that comprises: a first payee public address; based on thefirst cryptocurrency transaction, identifying a first request for adetermination of risk for the first cryptocurrency transaction using atleast one first risk criteria; storing, in response to identifying thefirst request for the determination of risk, first details regarding thefirst cryptocurrency transaction in a risk determination memory area;receiving, through the network from a second payer device, a secondcryptocurrency transaction that comprises a second payee public address;storing second details regarding the second cryptocurrency transactionin a transaction memory area; retrieving, subsequent to storing thefirst details regarding the first cryptocurrency transaction in the riskdetermination memory area, the first details regarding the firstcryptocurrency transaction from the risk determination memory area;identifying, using the first payee public address, a first payeeinvolved in the first cryptocurrency transaction; accessing, via atleast one risk information database and based on the identification ofthe first payee, first payee risk information; determining that thefirst payee risk information satisfies the at least one first riskcriteria; placing, in response to determining that the first payee riskinformation satisfies the at least one first risk criteria in the firstrequest, the first details regarding the first cryptocurrencytransaction in the transaction memory area for processing; retrieving,subsequent to storing the first details regarding the cryptocurrencytransaction and the second details regarding the second cryptocurrencytransaction in the transaction memory area, the first details regardingthe first cryptocurrency transaction and the second details regardingthe second cryptocurrency transaction from the transaction memory area;generating a block using the first cryptocurrency transaction and thesecond cryptocurrency transaction; and causing the block to be added toa cryptocurrency public ledger by broadcasting the block to a pluralityof computing nodes in the network.
 19. The non-transitorycomputer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the operations furthercomprise: in response to determining that the first payee riskinformation does not satisfy the at least one first risk criteria in thefirst request, transmitting a response to a user associated with thefirst cryptocurrency transaction indicating that the firstcryptocurrency transaction failed a risk assessment.
 20. Thenon-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 19, wherein theoperations further comprise: in response to determining that the firstpayee risk information does not satisfy the at least one first riskcriteria in the first request, discarding the first details regardingthe first cryptocurrency transaction from the risk determination memoryarea.
 21. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18,wherein the computer system corresponds to an electronic transactionservice provider, and wherein the first payee public address correspondsto a particular user account of the electronic transaction serviceprovider.